


The Lowest Point

by commanderlurker (honeybee592)



Series: Cats, the V is silent [15]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Drunkenness, F/M, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 12:28:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18691519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeybee592/pseuds/commanderlurker
Summary: Jace Malcom makes an unannounced visit to Odessen and Lana has to hold everything together.Set soon after Umbara.





	The Lowest Point

Jace Malcom only announces his arrival into Odessan space when he calls for landing procedures. The traffic controller has the sense to ask Lana for orders first. She curses to herself as she changes course and heads for the hangar.

“Send him in. Let him know he'll have a greeting party.”

“Of the security type, my lord?”

She bites back a sarcastic reply--there's no reason why she has to take up any more of Theron's roles--and replies in the affirmative.

The supreme commander of the Republic lands his shuttle. She was expecting a ship. The stairs fold out and hatch opens. Malcom ducks his head as he strides out the door.

“Lana Beniko, good to see you again, and on better terms this time.”

Lana folds her arms and angles her hip to push her lightsaber forward. “Lord Beniko, actually. To what do we owe this unannounced pleasure?” He can't know about Theron. He can't. Only a handful of the Alliance knows what he's done. Unless Cats got drunk again and sliced into the holocomm.

Malcom shifts and looks suitably put in his place. “I was hoping to see my son.”

A raised eyebrow allows Lana to express doubt while masking the knot in her stomach. “Come with me.”

She leads him into the base, past gaping expressions, to the war room. Everyone scuttles away, leaving just her and Malcom in the too huge space. Until boots thump from the direction of the elevator and Cats wanders in.

“Commander. Good to--” Malcom starts.

“Did he send you here to finish me off?” Cats stalks forward, blaster raised, murder in her eyes.

Malcom raises his hands to shoulder height. “I’m sorry, ma’am. You’ll have to explain that.”

“Theron. Did he send you?”

“No--”

“Supreme Commander Malcom has just arrived. He wishes to speak with Theron,” Lana explains, taking a step towards Cats and nudging her arm away from its target with the force.

Cats snorts.

Lana grips Cats by the elbow and shoulder, and gently directs her back to the elevator. “I can handle this, Cats.” She smells like alcohol. Probably Gualt’s doing.

“He betrayed us,” Cats slurs, breaking out of Lana’s grip and twisting to face Malcom. At least she keeps her blaster down.

Lana sighs. So much for keeping it under wraps.

“What do you mean betrayed?” Malcom asks. “He left the Alliance? For who? The Republic?” He changes his stance, going from awkward to commanding yet thoughtful.

“Don't know where the fuck he's gone. He's the spy man. Without him we're pissing in the wind.”

Lana directs Cats more forcefully this time, making a subtle call to Corso to come fetch her. She shoves Cats into the elevator and closes the door, using her datapad to override the internal controls. Let Corso deal with her at the top. She takes a deep breath and lets the force flow through her, calming her, nourishing her, preparing her for whatever comes next.

She returns to Malcom.

“What has my son done?” Malcom asks. He’s confused and angry. That will make him unpredictable.

Lana bristles on Theron’s behalf. She doesn’t know how much to reveal, but with Cats’ outburst, the official line won’t fly. She errs on the side of brevity. “He disagreed with the path the Alliance is taking so he left.” His attempted double-murder sounds so clinical and clean when she puts it like that.

“When? Where’s he gone?”

“About one week ago. He left… somewhat abruptly.”

“The Commander… is she…”

“Devastated, naturally.”

Malcom pulls up a chair and slumps into it. “This doesn’t sound like Theron. Why would he… He loves Cats. He loves the Alliance.”

“Not any more, apparently.”

He looks up, his hazel eyes so much like Theron’s. “What can I do to help?”

_Leave immediately_. “This development is still confidential. The official response to queries about Theron’s whereabouts is that he is engaged in a mission of indeterminate length and due to mission security, he is uncontactable.”

Malcom nods. Standard explanation, Lana thinks. He looks to the elevator. “What about her? Your official response will be called into doubt if she’s left to her own devices.”

“I know. We are dealing with her.”

Malcom raises an eyebrow.

The darkside erupts inside Lana’s chest. “What do you expect me to do?” she spits. “Announce to the whole galaxy that the Alliance’s head of intelligence has defected and that the commander wanders around the base drunk all day? Yes, that would just be wonderful. Why don’t we just put a sign up saying ‘Come and attack us, we’re weak and defenseless.”

“I’m not--”

“When I find Theron, I’m going to rip him inside out, and that’s after Cats has done whatever she’s going to do to him.” She glares at Malcom, the force rippling over her body. “You can help by _shutting up_. Should he be foolish enough to enter Republic space, detain him and we will deal with him. Now go. Leave us.”

Malcom has enough presence not to cower, but he looks nothing like the towering man Lana met on Iokath. He works his jaw. Swallows. “I will need to humbly request access to a maintenance droid, and perhaps a bunk for the night. My shuttle didn’t fare well coming here.”

Lana suppresses her sigh. “Very well. Speak to Bey’wan Aygo in the hangar for your shuttle, and Sana-Rae in the force enclave for a bunk.”

“Thank you.” Malcom stands. He stands heads taller than Lana but she doesn’t feel small. “And  rest assured, I will keep the details of our conversation private.” He nods and strides back the way he came.

Lana will assign someone to keep an eye on him. Now she must go and find Cats and have a chat about blurting out inconvenient truths.

*

Hours later, Lana’s eyes glaze over as she scans her datapad. She’s not getting anything from this report. She should really go to bed. No. Not yet. A cup of caf and she’ll be good for for a while yet.

Her holo chimes. Koth.

“Lana, hey I know it’s not my place to judge who the Commander wants to sleep with, but you might want to come to the cantina and judge for yourself.”

She sighs and thanks Koth. No caf any time soon.

She scans the cantina as she walks in and sees Cats immediately. And who she’s with. For such a big man and with all his formidable military experience, Jace Malcom looks like he’s met his match. He catches Lana’s eye and she sees his silent plea for help. He certainly needs it: Cats is all over him, body pressed against him, hands on his chest, lips just meeting his neck. This can not end well. She walks over, prepared to peel Cats off him. She’ll use the force if she has to.

“Good evening Commanders.”

“Evening Lord Beniko,” Jace says. He winces.

Lana taps Cats’ shoulder. Cats turns her head away from Jace’s neck. Her eyes take a few seconds to follow. Recognition comes another few seconds after that. “Lana!”

“Shall we take you to bed?” Lana asks.

Cats’ smile turns into a lascivious grin. “That’s what I’ve been trying to get The-” she pauses, wraps her lips around the name, and finishes with “-ace. Jace. To do.”

“Well, I’m offering. He’s not. Come on.” She takes Cats by the arm and gently tugs. Cats comes away easily, wrapping her arm around Lana’s shoulder.

Jace sags. “Thank you,” he whispers.

“We’ll talk later,” Lana replies.

Together, Lana and Cats stumble through the base, down the steps to the hangar, out across the bridge, and over to Cats’ ship. Cats sings for a while, nonsense words. She stinks of alcohol and stale sweat. The ship hatch opens without Lana having to prompt Cats to enter any codes. Their footsteps echo off the floor as Lana leads her through the ship, taking the shortest way to the refresher. Everyone seems to be in bed. No longer asleep, if Cats has any say in the matter.

The door to the refresher slides open and Lana leads Cats in.

Cats sways and makes a worrying noise. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“I thought you would be.” Lana helps her to the ground in time for Cats to throw up in the toilet. Lana wrinkles her nose at the smell and lifts Cats’ head up so she can press the flush. The vomit slurps away in time for Cats to throw up again. Lana strokes Cats’ back and curses Theron for the thousandth time. He’s not responsible for how Cats has reacted to his betrayal, of course, but Lana’s finding it difficult to be fair, or rational.

There’s a knock at the door. Corso stands in the doorway. “Can I help?”

“Water,  please. A whole bucket if you can. And a cloth. Maybe a change of clothes?”

Corso nods and disappears. He’s a good man. He’s been nothing but helpful ever since he and Cats reunited not long ago. Cats’ whole demeanor changed when she returned from Nar Shadaar with Corso, Corso’s wife, and Risha. Then Akaavi, the Mandalorian, not long later. Once Akaavi was back, it was like a puzzle had been completed. The whole crew, plus one, together again. Lana (and the traitor Theron) had been in Cats’ daily life for close on two years now, but it wasn’t until Lana had seen Cats with her whole crew again that she realised that she was still very much an outsider.

“Here’s her jammies, and a cloth. I’ll just get the water.” Corso puts the clothes out of reach of Cats’ vomiting and slips past. He comes back with a bucket of warm water and a cup.

Lana wipes Cats’ brow and face, wipes her mouth, gets a cup of water into her. Corso rinses the cloth and Lana wipes Cats’ neck.

Together they manage to undress Cats and get her into her pyjamas. Corso sucks in a breath when he sees her with no shirt on. Lana looks to where he’s staring. The scar between her breasts. From Arcann’s lightsaber. That was so long ago...

“How did she let him live?” Corso asks, but it’s a whisper, like he’s asking himself. He helps gets Cats’ arms through the right holes, and the view of the scar is gone.

Cats vomits once more then flops back onto Lana. “I’m done,” she says.

Lana tries to make herself comfortable, not believing that Cats has finished voiding her stomach. She shuffles back so she can sit against the wall, and Cats rearranges herself on Lana’s lap. Cats promptly falls asleep. At least she doesn’t stink anymore.

Corso sits back too, against the adjacent wall. He watches Cats’ with heavy eyes. He’s in his own pyjamas, Lana realsies. He must have woken up at their arrival.

“Was she trying to, uh, seduce someone?” Corso asks.

“Jace Malcom.”

“Whoo wee. She sure knows how to pick ‘em.”

Lana smiles at that. “I take it you’ve seen her like this before?” She puts her hand on Cats’ back, confident that Cats is deeply asleep and not likely to overhear their conversation.

“Yeah, but not this bad,” Corso says. “She ever tell you about Darmas Pollaran?”

Lana nods. “He was her friend. The information broker on Coruscant who turned out to be an imperial agent. He betrayed her. All of you.”

Corso nods, slow, his eyes fixed on Cats. He doesn’t blink. He looks tired. More than tired. “Lana…I've never told anyone this before, but when she killed Darmas… She shot him at point blank range. In the face.” His voice is low, distant. The pain recent. “There… There wasn't much left… and then she kicked him and kicked him and kicked him and… I can still hear hear the sound her boot made.” Corso looks up at Lana. His eyes are wet and he's gone pale, like he might vomit himself. “Her and Darmas, they weren't even… But she _loved_ Theron. When she finds him… I’m afraid, Lana.”

All of Lana’s fantasies of slowly throttling Theron slam to a halt. She goes cold, sober with the fear in Corso’s voice. Afraid for Theron, or afraid for Cats? She looks down at the woman snoring on her lap. She can’t think of anything to say that’s not a lie or a promise she can’t keep.

She still can't believe that he would betray Lana, the Alliance, _Cats._ That stupid man loves Cats. It's clear to anyone who sees them together. That's what's so confusing about what he's done. He's an excellent spy, and a convincing liar, but surely he couldn't have been lying about his love. Something just doesn't add up. But then, nothing has made sense since Iokath, since the superweapon intelligence and the traitor’s emergence.

“Also, uh, if she tries to sleep with you, say no.”

Lana blinks, her half formed thought snapped. She'd almost forgotten that Corso was still here. She allows herself a small smile. “You sound like you're speaking from experience.”

Corso blows out his cheeks. “I love that woman, I always will. I'll follow her anywhere. Pips knows that, too. But I am never doing _that_ again.” He shakes his head. “For the best, anyway. We never would have worked out.”

Cats shifts, mumbling. Lana shushes her, strokes her hair.

“Will she be okay?” Lana asks.

Corso's face crumbles. “I hope so.”

Lana can only hope so too.

**Author's Note:**

> Note: I headcanon Gemini 16 not giving Theron full access to the Odessen base security. systems. She doesn't trust him, so she only shows him what she thinks she should. Theron, mercifully, doesn't see his (ex)girlfriend trying to fuck his father (And Cats is so drunk she forgets it ever happened.)
> 
> Also, Poor Lana thinking she's not as close to Cats as Cats' crew :(((( She definitely is.


End file.
